In sports and performances, it is highly desirable to have a way to help people reviewing their performance with sufficiently focused details in order to improve their skills during training exercises and exhibitions. Camera systems are more and more intensively involved in such training and exhibition systems. The cameras produce video records that can be displayed to users. Both trainees and their coaches can review the recorded performance and exhibition in real time or afterwards to find out the insufficiency in the trainee's skill and performance. However, traditional camera recording processes usually need a professional person to manually operate the orientation and zoom of the camera in order to have a performer presented in the camera view with sufficient focuses on motion details. Such assistant services are hardly available or affordable for common exerciser and nonprofessional players in a regular basis.
Professional coaches can only provide training in a limited region and time schedule. People live in a farther region are expecting to have a way to get their specialized coaching remotely. The availability of a public accessible camera viewing and reviewing service will be able to help them realize their self-training and remote-training dreams in a most effective and cost-efficient way. Their performances can be recorded with sufficient details and they can be reviewed by their favorite coaches without requiring them onsite at the same training schedule.
In order to provide the desired services, this invention discloses camera system control methods and apparatus that can provide highly smooth and focused camera view controls to track user specified objects automatically. Such a high quality service has not been available in common public sport or activity places. Existing auto-focusing camera systems are incapable to follow the dynamic motions of a performer continuously and smoothly while capturing sufficient details of the performance.
The invented automatic camera viewing system integrates camera systems, mobile computerized devices, communication networks, and control systems. It is able to provide automatic object viewing applications including: fast initial target object locating; target object specification from mobile devices; automatic and focused object following and viewing controls; video recording and sharing; etc. The invented automatic camera viewing system provides services at public activity places. Users can access the service from their mobile device, like smartphones, and select desired target object to follow in camera view. Users can view and review recorded performance on their mobile devices or from any network connected computer and display devices, like desktop/laptop computer, tablet computer, smartphone, stadium large screen, etc.
The invented camera viewing system aims at supporting performance recording and assessment in activities like sports, performances and exhibitions. It provides a high quality auto-focus and auto-following camera viewing solution to satisfy training, performance assessment and entertainment needs in activities.